A.M. BestTV: Rated U.S. Captives Stand Above Commercial Peers

August 07, 2017 01:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time

OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In this A.M.BestTV episode, Fred Eslami, senior financial
analyst, A.M. Best, reviews a recent Best’s Special Report
that details U.S. captive insurers and how they continue to perform when
compared with their commercial lines counterparts, mainly due to their
loss-control activities and expertise in the coverages that they write.
Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=captivereport817
to view the entire program.

“The report focuses on U.S. captives that A.M. Best has statutory
filings and consistent comparative information for year-to-year,” said
Eslami. “These captives continue to outperform their commercial peers,
not only this year, but in the prior years. A.M. Best believes that they
are going to continue to outperform the commercial market going forward.”

Eslami credits these captives’ risk-management practices for their
ability to outperform other markets. “They spend a lot of money on
training risk prevention, risk mitigation,” Eslami said. “They do not
have the commission expense and other expenses that the commercial
market has.”

Eslami also spoke about a new section in the report that talks about
captives writing minimal cyber security and theft—in terms of
premium—$8.8 million in 2016 versus $5.4 million in 2015. “That shows
the gradual, prudent measures that these companies are taking to include
this risk into their captives.”

New Tools Help Fight Distracted Driving, Says Brownyard Chairman:
Bryan Brownyard, chairman, Brownyard Group, said insurers are using a
growing range of electronic and physical solutions to prevent
distracted driving, but it remains a huge problem for insurers of
commercial vehicles: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=brownyard517.